James Ball
13 December 2023
Rishi Sunak’s viciously cruel Rwanda bill is still doomed
The prime minister’s “win” has set him up for weeks of losing
Read the full article13 December 2023
Boris Johnson, a sorry excuse for a man
Some Tory MPs still dream of Boris Johnson returning as PM. After his Covid inquiry appearance, are they mad?
Read the full article11 December 2023
How shifty Sunak was caught out over Eat Out To Help Out
The PM’s Covid inquiry testimony foundered on his basic inability to do politics well
Read the full article07 December 2023
Boris Johnson’s failure to grasp basic maths cost hundreds – maybe thousands – of lives
People paid a big price for the ex-PM’s perennial ignorance, while he gets off scot-free
Read the full article07 December 2023
The confident nonsense of Boris Johnson
The former PM produced nothing but blather at the Covid inquiry
Read the full article06 December 2023
Johnson at the Covid Inquiry – what happened this morning
It was a disaster for Johnson, and revealed the complete dysfunction at the heart of his government
Read the full article06 December 2023
The Covid inquiry is, finally, giving us the chance to be world-beating
Boris Johnson’s bluster and Partygate brought national shame. But the Covid inquiry is a source of national pride
Read the full article04 December 2023
No, Keir Starmer did not endorse Thatcher’s foul legacy
By appealing to Tory voters, Labour’s leader is merely showing how much he wants the Tories out of power
Read the full article03 December 2023
Elon Musk’s foul mouth
If he can’t make Twitter work his way, he’d rather break it than let anyone else take over
Read the full article29 November 2023
The F word: when does populism become fascism?
How close are populist leaders like Geert Wilders to fitting Umberto Eco’s definition of fascist traits?
Read the full article24 November 2023
I’m A Celebrity… is going badly for both Nigel Farage and ITV
Ratings are down and the Brexiteer is missing his chance to capitalise on new net migration numbers
Read the full article22 November 2023
The autumn statement points to a general election in May
A national insurance cut for January indicates we could only be six months from a poll
Read the full article21 November 2023
Rishi Sunak is no magician
David Cameron is Rishi Sunak’s latest trick to persuade voters that he is competent. Like his others, it is doomed to fail
Read the full article19 November 2023
The do-nothing left aren’t morally superior… they are irrelevant
In failing to realise the value of compromise, serial protestors guarantee they will change nothing
Read the full article15 November 2023
Rwanda was a colossal waste of time and money. Now Sunak should take the blame
The Supreme Court’s judgement makes clear that this was a plan that would never have worked
Read the full article15 November 2023
Nigel Farage, the biggest snake in the jungle
Does Nigel Farage’s I’m a Celebrity... appearance signal a return to the mainstream? Or just desperation?
Read the full article09 November 2023
Sunak and Braverman have pushed the Met into crisis
Their idiotic interventions about Saturday’s protest have made a delicate situation much worse
Read the full article08 November 2023
The deadly failings of a moral pygmy
Boris Johnson’s lack of focus and lack of humanity cost lives during Covid. Yet instead of facing charges, he is raking in the cash
Read the full article07 November 2023
Rishi Sunak only has a year left as PM. Is this really all he wants to try to do with it?
The King’s Speech shows a government out of ideas and running out of time
Read the full article03 November 2023
Sunak’s toadying interview with Elon Musk has damaged what remains of his reputation
The PM’s tone-deaf remarks in his weird AI chat again shows he is useless at politics
Read the full article31 October 2023
The Covid inquiry and Dominic Cummings’s potty mouth
The insulting terms he used for Johnson and others tell us much more about him than his intended targets
Read the full article28 October 2023
The prison walls are starting to close in on Donald Trump
Plea deals for his former allies are a disaster for the election-denying ex-president
Read the full article25 October 2023
No, these two stories about Rishi Sunak don’t prove he is a tech genius
There’s more to running a country than making your own spreadsheets and repeating an anecdote about AI
Read the full article23 October 2023
If Starmer wins, he should break up the Treasury and remake No 10
Two good ideas for an incoming Labour government come from a former Tory minister’s report
Read the full article20 October 2023
Five takeaways from today’s historic by-election results
What should we make of Labour’s thumping success?
Read the full article19 October 2023
The BBC, Gaza and Hamas
It made mistakes on Tuesday night, and poor reporting in febrile times can be dangerous – but even so, the BBC is not the story
Read the full article18 October 2023
The “3.5% rule” needs protesting
Support for a campaign by just 3.5% of people is supposedly a tipping point. That doesn’t add up
Read the full article15 October 2023
Could Labour’s past NIMBY moments come back to haunt them?
Shadow housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycook opposed a new development two years ago
Read the full article11 October 2023
Twitter’s fake news over Israel and Hamas is a consequence of Elon Musk’s actions
The social network has been reprogrammed in a way that seems to encourage disinformation
Read the full article11 October 2023
Our justice system is criminal
Britain’s political class is locked in a cycle of consensus on law and order that costs a lot and delivers little
Read the full article09 October 2023
The Tory cock-up that has given Keir Starmer a free ride this week
Letting Labour hold their conference last is another Conservative blunder
Read the full article04 October 2023
Sunak’s conference of chaos should spell the end of the Tories
Four days of shame in Manchester from the party of short-termism and moral bankruptcy
Read the full article